A2

At A2, English learners can understand short, simple texts on familiar matters of a concrete type which consist of high frequency, everyday or job-related language. Students can understand short, simple texts containing the highest frequency vocabulary, including a proportion of shared international vocabulary items.

This page includes posts related to A2 grammar in chronological order. To see a full list of all A2 grammar in categories, click here.

ALL + preposition + noun phrase

A2, ADVERBS, DETERMINERS, emphasis, intensity, modify, NOUNS, phrases, PREPOSITIONS

At A2 level in the Oxford learner’s dictionary, ‘All’ as an adverb can mean ‘completely’.
Adverbs pre-modifying prepositions are found at A2, B1, and C1 levels in the English Grammar Profile.
The iWeb corpus was searched for ALL + prepositional phrases using the pattern _DB _II _A _NN. However, not every result represents ‘all’ as an adverb.
Some of the most common phrases include ‘All around the world’, ‘All across the country’, and ‘All along the way’, among others.
Each phrase is used in a unique context. For example, ‘All around the world’ is often used when referring to a global phenomenon or distribution, as in “Television rights have been sold all around the world”. Similarly, ‘All along the way’ can be used to indicate a consistent pattern or presence across a process or journey, as in “Black girls are overrepresented all along the way”.

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BE + past participle + BY phrase

A2, participle, PASSIVES, VERBS

A detailed analysis of the structure “BE + past participle + BY”, which is commonly used to form passive voice sentences in English. This structure consists of a form of the verb “to be”, a past participle, and the preposition “by”. The webpage also includes examples from the iWeb corpus, showcasing how this structure is used in various contexts. Some of the most common phrases include “BE USED BY”, “IS CAUSED BY”, and “IS DETERMINED BY”. The examples illustrate how this structure allows us to focus on the action and its impact, rather than on who or what performed the action.

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interjections & other sentence words

A2, ADVERBS, emphasis, exclamations, informal, surprise

The text discusses the use of interjections in language, which are words that express sudden feelings and emotions such as pleasure, anger, disappointment, shock, surprise, and excitement. These words often come with punctuation marks and are usually inserted between sentences.

The text also presents a search result from the NOW corpus for the frequency of interjections. The most frequent interjections are ‘YES’ and ‘NO’, which are sometimes classified as interjections but do not always express emotion or act as calls for attention. They are sometimes classified as a part of speech in their own right: sentence words or word sentences.

The text provides examples of how ‘YES’, ‘NO’, and other interjections like ‘OH’, ‘YEAH’, ‘HEY’, etc., are used to express various emotions. It also notes that there is no entry in the English Profile or Collins dictionary for ‘yes’ used to express emotion, suggesting this is not an A1 cando. However, ‘Yeah’ is listed at A2 as an exclamation, and ‘No’ as an exclamation is listed in the Collins dictionary at A2.

The text concludes with a list of the top 100 most common interjections according to the NOW corpus, with ‘YES’, ‘NO’, and ‘OH’ being the top three.

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possessive determiner + OWN

A2, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, C1, emphasis, manner, NOUNS, phrases, possessive

At A2 level in the English Vocabulary Profile, the adjective ‘own’ is used with a possessive to emphasize ownership or belonging. This usage is common in advanced phrases, sometimes in C1 adverbial phrases describing the manner in which something is done. ‘Own’ can also function as a pronoun, referring back to a noun phrase. Additionally, ‘own’ can mean ‘alone’ at B1 level.

Examples of usage include sentences like “The least you could do is allow me to live here in my own way,” emphasizing personal ownership, and “Feel free to use our pool, but use it at your own risk,” indicating individual responsibility. Moreover, phrases like “on their own” and “of their own” are frequently used to express independence and ownership.

Furthermore, ‘own’ can be part of idiomatic expressions such as “mind your own business,” which means to tell someone in a rude way not to inquire about something private.

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all the time

A2, phrases

This content aims to elucidate the meaning of the phrase ‘All the Time’ as it falls within the A2 proficiency level of English Vocabulary. It delves into its definition, emphasizing its continuous usage. The content offers real-life examples to illustrate its application and explores its collocates to provide a comprehensive understanding of the phrase.

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GO + verbING

A2, gerund, non-finite, VERBS

Listed at A2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: go + verb-ing to go somewhere to do a particular activity For example: If you guys aren’t doing anything, we‘re all gonna go surfing. listen An iWeb search for: GO _VVG 1 GO SHOPPING 15263 ‘GO SHOPPING’ is listed at A1. Yeah, that‘s a good idea, because I was gonna go shopping for a wheelchair anyway. 2 WENT MISSING 12104 ‘GO MSSING’ is not an activity,

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one of

A2, DETERMINERS, numbers

In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘one’ is listed as a determiner at A2 = to refer to a particular person or thing in a group This is one of the most important documents in history. listen In this context, “one” is used to indicate a particular but unspecified example of something, in this case, a document. It’s part of the phrase

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far superlative

A2, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, attributive, B2, irregular, superlative, time

The irregular superlative adverb or adjective of ‘far‘ is ‘farthest‘ or ‘furthest.’  For example: If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.   From the furthest corners of the world where the dark arts still hold sway,  he returns to us to demonstrate how nature‘s laws may be bent. listen In the English Vocabulary Profile, at A2, ‘far‘ as an adverb means: at, to or from a great distance in space or time It is also listed at B2 as an adjective

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ENJOY + verb-ING

A2, gerund, pattern, VERBS

The phrase “enjoy + ing” is used to describe an activity that someone finds pleasurable. In the sentence “Panda enjoyed reading, building, and solving puzzles,” the word “enjoyed” is in the past tense and is used to describe an action that has already happened. The words “reading,” “building,” and “solving puzzles” are all in the

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that (pronoun)

A2, demonstrative, mentioned, PRONOUNS, reference, singular

In the English Grammar Profile, there are two similar points at A2 in the category of PRONOUN/demonstratives: Point 20 is defined as: ‘that’ as a pronoun to refer back to something which has already been mentioned Point 28: ‘that’ as a pronoun with singular reference For example: No, it‘s nowhere near that. listen That‘s why I brought you here. An iWeb search for:

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indefinite pronoun + ELSE

A2, indefinite, post-modify, PRONOUNS

The adverb ‘else’ is only a postmodifier. It follows indefinite pronouns. In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 14 in the category of PRONOUNS: indefinite pronouns with ‘else’ We did a search in iWeb corpus for: _PN1 else 1 SOMEONE ELSE 335976 I would like to choose my sister as a guardian because I can’t imagine someone else. PELIC student: French male level 3 reading

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determiner + noun phrase (increasing range)

A2, DETERMINERS, modify, NOUNS, phrases, range, uncountable

Here’s a student example of a determiner + uncountable noun: My teacher told me “enjoy the music and you will dance naturally.” PELIC Taiwanese female level 3 writing class A2 point 18 in the category of  NOUNS is defined: form simple noun phrases by pre-modifying nouns with an increasing range of determiners. A2 point 24 in the category of NOUNS: form

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THERE + is | are | was | were

A1, A2, complements, NOUNS, phrases, plural, singular, VERBS

In English grammar, “there is” and “there are” are commonly used to indicate the existence or presence of something.

“There is” is used when the noun following it is singular. For example, “There is a book on the table.”
“There are” is used when the noun following it is plural. For example, “There are many books on the shelf.”
These phrases can be used in various tenses by adjusting the form of the verb “be”. For instance, you could say “There was a time when I was everything to you,” using the past tense. However, this usage is typically considered more advanced and may be classified as A2 level in some learning resources.

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